Well it certainly has been a long time, hasn't it!  I took a break from polish because I simply didn't have much motivation or any good ideas.  But now I'm back in full force!
I present to you my rainbow gradient nails.  Very simple, very pretty, and subtly stunning (in my opinion).  Definitely the best gradient I've done so far!  Although you can't really see the pink on the other side of my thumb nail, the blend between the pink and orange was REALLY seamless.

Tools Used:
Make-up sponge

Polishes Used:
Pink - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear #240 Twisted Pink
Orange - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear #150 Sun Kissed
Yellow - Sally Hansen Insta-Dri #250 Lightening
Green - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear #110 Green With Envy
Blue - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear #130 Blue Me Away!
Purple - Sally Hansen Hard as Nails #370 No Hard Feelings

Engaging in rant about Nicole's "Luke of the Draw" (Modern Family set) in 3...2....1...

Now don't get me wrong, I love love loved this polish in the bottle!  The variety in sizes of the flakes and the strong contrast of the silver and black make it a very striking glitter polish.  
My problem with this polish, and I feel strongly enough about this to warn all of you if you haven't already figured this out for yourselves...IT DOESN'T STAY ON FOR EVEN A SINGLE DAY!
I have tried prepping my nails differently before applying this polish and I have used different base coats.  Even the Orly Bonder (rubberized base coat) won't keep this polish on my nails for a single day and that stuff makes polish stick like death!
And of course, once it starts looking like crap (roughly a few hours later), and you want to re-do your mani, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE IT!  How is it possible that this polish won't stay on your nails when you want it to and when you want it off, it sticks like glue?!  I am seriously miffed.
Screw you, Nicole for making such a pretty polish, that sucks so hard.

Okay, so they might not be actual lizards, but that's what they remind me of.  Deal with it! 
This was my first time using the correct size of glitter for the mosaic/scaly look.  It wasn't too terrible to do, but my neck sure was stiff after doing the first nail!
And a big thanks to my sister for finding the glitter at a dollar store!

So I thought to make up for my long absence, I'd post one more set!  I wanted to use some summer colors to cheer myself up since Minnesota is being continuously dumped with snow.  I figured I hadn't done a cloud mani in a while, and these colors were perfect for it!

This is the one I'm currently wearing and the picture was taken 2 days after I painted them WITHOUT a top coat.  I know I know!  How dare I NOT use Seche Vite!  My only reasoning is I was feeling particularly lazy that night.  Deal with it :P

Aaand I'm back!  It's been FOREVER since I've posted new nails, and for that I apologize.  I recently bought my first house and a week later I took a 4-day road trip to Dollywood (yes, that is Dolly Parton's amusement park and it was wonderful).  So needless to say, my nails haven't quite been my top priority as of late.  The day I bought the house, I quickly painted my nails with China Glaze Dorothy Who with a splash of Sinful Colors After Party on the tips.  It was a very bright sparkle with just a hint of a gradient and  that mani lasted TWO WEEKS before it was noticeably chipped!  I was amazed.  So to get back into the swing of things and to practice my mani for a friend's wedding in Des Moines this weekend, I did these wing-type nails.  

Fun Fact:  If you're going to replicate this mani, put the glitter on first and then paint the wings with a fine liner brush.

Tools Used:
Liner brush

Polishes Used:
Glitter - Sally Hansen #120 Diamonds
White - Sinful Colors #101 Snow Me White
Silver - Sally Hansen #220 Celeb City
Black - Orly Artistic Liner Black

I couldn't decide what to do with my nails on this lazy Sunday afternoon when my eyes drifted over to the salt & pepper shakers I brought back from Amsterdam and BOOM!  Inspiration!  It's quite fitting too since I've been missing Amsterdam as of late.  ...Now I just hope that the people at work don't think they are "XXX" porn nails.

I had big plans for these Game of Thrones nails.  I speckled them like rocks and I was going to paint a giant dire wolf running across them.  As I finished the head on my ring finger, I realized I had angled it such that there was no room for the body and the head didn't look like a head anyway.  So I painted over it with black and silver glitter and I think they turned out pretty rockin'! 

See how I got the splatter effect below!

So to get the splatter effect, I first painted my nails white.  Then I watered down some black acrylic paint.  Not too watery, but enough that it wasn't clumpy.  Then I wrapped my thumb in aluminum foil in a way that gave me a ridge along the bottom of my thumb.  This way, I was able to flick the bristles of the toothbrush without ruining the paint on my thumb. 

My sister and I went to see Pauly Shore perform live so I did these tie-dye nails for the occasion.  I think they were very fitting for The Weasel.  AaaOooOOooHHhhhOOOooOo!!

And here he is the best picture I got of him.  He is drinking from a fish bowl he pulled off an audience members table.

Yes, the title is a bit lengthy, but how else would you describe these?  Well, I suppose "striking" would also work.

There's a mini-tutorial below.

Go Go, Mini Tutorial!
Step 1: Paint 2 coats of black
Step 2: 2 Paint a matte top coat
Step 3: Carefully dab your blue glitter on to create the half-moons (I used 2 different blue glitters)
Step 4: Paint just the tips with a clear coat
Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy!

Polishes Used:
Black - Orly #40484 Liquid Vinyl
Blue Glitter #1 - China Glaze #857 Dorothy Who?
Blue Glitter #2 - Sinful Colors #1165 After Party
Matte Top Coat - Sephora
Top Coat - Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

I went into Ulta on Saturday to pick up another bottle of Seche Vite and walked out with 7 different polishes and $53 less in my wallet.  With my fancy new colors in tow (and my first Zoyas!), I sat at home and tried to come up with a design that would use as many of them as possible.  I've tried the butterfly wings before (many moons ago) with disasterous results and thought that this would be the perfect time to try again now that I have new brushes and...oh boy did these turn out great!  The colors all blended together extremely well, they are super shiny and shimmery and my line work has improved immensely!  I want to try my other polishes, but I plan on wearing this mani for as long as possible - soooo pretty!

Tools Used:
Make-up sponge
Detail brush

Polishes Used:
#1 Base pink - Zoya #ZP551 Faye
#2 Orange - OPI #NLE79 A Woman's Prague-Ative
#3 Dark pink - Nicole #NIF13 Back In My Gloria Days...
Black and white acrylic paint

*And just because I couldn't stop this scene from playing in my head whilst painting this mani...

No one ever suspects.....The Butterfly!!